Winter sports tryouts for the 2022-’23 season began on Nov. 1 after school, with cheerleading, basketball, and swim tryouts all taking place at different locations.

The girls basketball tryouts were held in TG2, boys basketball in TG1, cheerleading in TG3, and swimming at the pool. During tryouts and practices, athletes are required to bring their own water bottles and wear their masks at all times unless the coach says otherwise. 

Unlike the other sports, cheerleading will begin with a clinic before holding its official tryouts on Nov. 8 and 9. Students who intend to try out for cheer have to attend the mandatory clinic, where the captains review the basic cheer motions as well as the tryout routine, starting from dance to jumps to chant. 

During cheer tryouts, students will be divided into groups of two or three. A group at a time will be called to TG3 and asked to perform their routine in front of the coaches and captains. Students will then be graded on a rubric. This season, 16 members will make the team, and three members will be chosen as substitutes.

“This year, it was decided to make no cuts,” Melissa Kim (11), varsity cheerleading co-captain, said. “There are not enough students to make a separate JV team; instead, we decided to have some students to be substitutes so they can help when a player gets injured during a game or prior to our KAIAC competition.”

As for the swim team, coaches Tim Gardes and Jimin Kim organized a routine of warm-ups and drills for students to complete. Whilst the cheer team looks to accept 16 members and the basketball teams 12, the swim team places no limits to accepting students. 

The basketball tryouts consisted of warm-up drills and 3v3 games. After the first day of tryouts, the roster for the girls varsity basketball team was already released. For the boys team, the results were released after school on Nov. 3. 

“There were definitely more seniors trying out this year, many of them not having played before,” Tim Munro, varsity boys basketball coach, said. “We were mostly able to make our final decision for the varsity team first, then we had a separate day for just the underclassmen to choose the final JV team.”